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June 07, 2005
Zabasearch and Personal Info Online
Zabasearch, an online directory with a frightening amount of information about people, is perfectly legal in the United States. Anita Ramasastry's article on FindLaw, "Can We Stop Zabasearch -- and Similar Personal Information Search Engines?", discusses how these sites provide access to personal information (some for free, some for a fee) and how despite their use in identity theft, they are still legal.
The author points out an important fact: much of this information is already findable in public records--people just have to know how and where to look. Zabasearch simply makes the information accessible in one place. Usually, as librarians, we think that is a good thing. In this case, however, the privacy-minded side of our profession comes in conflict with the sharing-information side. Still, Zabasearch is a resource to know about, and to make patrons aware of.
story via Virtual Chase
June 7, 2005 | Permalink
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http://www.Zabasearch.com (AKA peopledata.com, lists personal/private information such as street addresses, unlisted phone numbers, birth year, maps how to get to your house, satellite photos of people's homes, your family's address/data, etc) seems to be an invasion of mine and your privacy. I know that these are public records and that ZabbaSearch.com/DigPeople.com are not to blame (businesses and government are to blame for leaking this data), but people do not know that if you even simply register to vote or request to join the army/military in USA, you name/address/telephone are made public information (muti billion dollar industry selling our private info) without you having to sign a consent form or without asking permission! Even where you buy a domain name (lease actually, no single person actually owns a domain name, even Bill Gates does not own Microsoft.com), your address, name and telephone number are added to public records that anyone with an internet connection can retrieve this data to harrass you or even SPAM you (don't forget that deranged cyberstalkers can find you now)! Other places Zaba get's YOUR private data may be from county records, state records, court records, info becomes publicly available after you buy a new house, go to the post office and file for a change of address form, etc (data gets sold to info brokers on the open market)! I think all Americans should make a class action law suit against this type of crime which businesses and gov't are doing!
Don't be mad at ZabaSearch.com (just a beta now, wait until it is done and even better) for providing public data! Maybe Americans should not vote for presidents or give personal data to businesses!
Supposedly you can have your private data removed from the ZabaSearch database deleted by requesting it at info@zabasearch.com (but that does not mean your data is not posted somewhere else like DigPeople.com for example, also Zaba does not guarantee that your info will not be found later on as it will most likely fetch the data again automatically without human intervention).
BEWARE, more of these search engines with private data will be coming or are already here! Your fight for privacy is FUTILE! Even states that have laws against posting people's home addresses are not able to stop this invasion of your privacies! Expect identity theft to rise!
Similar Sites Showing Private Data:
http://people.yahoo.com
http://www.digpeople.com
http://www.ussearch.com
http://www.whois.sc (domain name owners)
Posted by: New Search Engine, SirSeek | August24, 2005
I find maps.google.com to be a great place to find and view satellite images.
Posted by: Coolest Guy on the Planet | July30, 2005
From the information listing (which also has an out-of-date address for me, but only by about two months), there is a link to various maps &c of the address. But when you try to hit TerraServer for satellite images, you get this page.
Posted by: [libcat] | June19, 2005
They have the right birthdate for me, but my last address (year and a half old). What I can't understand is _where_ they got the information. I was unlisted, and the birthdate thing weirds me out. But public records are funny like that... They do, though, have conflicting or incorrect information for some people though. I think it's a good teaching tool for patrons to show them what _is_ out there so they can be aware that they might not be as anonymous as they think.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton | June 7, 2005
Interesting. Of the four people I searched for, it had correct information for one of us (me), and that was only what could be found in my phone book. Of the others, one wasn't listed, one had the wrong birthdate, and one had the wrong phone number.
Posted by: Meg'n | June 7, 2005
